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Online PHP & MySQL tutors - do they exist?

I've worked with several people in the past, but only as a visual designer. I'm looking to move into the more complex side of web development and I've noticed that I learn a lot better when I'm taking lessons from actual people - it also helps skip all the extremely basic and unnecessary parts that I can pick up in a matter of minutes.

Ideally I'm looking for someone to teach me a decent amount of PHP and about working with databases such as MySQL. Do such people exist? I learned XHTML and CSS2 through a textbook and research and looked through web source code to figure out HTML5 and CSS3. However, I doubt it would be that easy for back-end languages, and if it was it would probably take a long time.

If you are looking for someone to personally work one-on-one with you, I suppose it's possible. However, the better they are at it, the more likely it is that they are already working full-time doing coding and may not be inclined to spend more time tutoring. My best suggestion might be to see if there are any relevant user's groups that meet in your area, and start attending some meetings. That way you can personally get to know some people in the area and perhaps find a willing mentor, or at least get pointed to someone with potential.

Yes you can learn PHP and MySQL online. There are lot of online tutorials, One of the tutorial website are w3schools.com.

I use w3schools constantly but mostly for reference, not actually learning anything. I find that the lessons are slow and boring. I much more enjoy working with other people - in fact, I've become lazier in web design ever since I have stopped looking for partners/colleagues. As I said I'm more looking for someone to work one-on-one with. I would be willing to pay but probably not too much - about $20/hour would be my aim.

I'm sure you can find them but honestly, at $20 an hour I'm not totally sure that you will be happy with what you get... college students or something. Private tutors tend to be pricey. On the elementary level tutors charge anywhere from $25 to $75 an hour and those are teachers used to getting teacher wages at their day job. Programmers getting programmer wages at their day job will most likely expect something more.

Getting a private tutor probably won't come cheap, unless they're in the process of learning (i.e. a college or university student). If you want someone who has more knowledge and experience, I'm not sure what you'd get for $20/hour and many online classes aren't one-on-one as you prefer. Why not first try some online classes or something like Code Academy just to get a general feel for PHP and MySQL, then if you like what you're learning and have interest, search some more. Plus it would mean whoever is tutoring you wouldn't have to start from scratch as you have at least a basic foundation.